Symptoms of type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is a medical condition in which sugar, or glucose, levels build up in your bloodstream. There’s not enough insulin to move the sugar into your cells, which are where the sugar is used for energy. This causes your body to rely on alternative energy sources in your tissues, muscles, and organs.

This is a chain reaction that can cause a variety of symptoms. Type 2 diabetes can develop slowly. The symptoms may be mild and easy to dismiss at first.

The early symptoms may include:

constant hunger

a lack of energy

fatigue

weight loss

excessive thirst

frequent urination

dry mouth

itchy skin

blurry vision

As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more severe and potentially dangerous.

If your blood sugar levels have been high for a long time, the symptoms can include:

yeast infections

slow-healing cuts or sores

dark patches on your skin

foot pain

feelings of numbness in your extremities, or neuropathy

If you have two or more of these symptoms, you should see your doctor. Without treatment, diabetes can become life-threatening.

Diabetes has a powerful effect on your heart. Women with
diabetes are twice
as likely to have another heart attack after the first one. They’re at quadruple
the risk of heart failure when compared to women without diabetes. Diabetes can
also lead to complications during pregnancy.

Diet for type 2 diabetes

Diet is an important tool to keep your
heart healthy and blood sugar levels within a safe and healthy range. It
doesn’t have to be complicated or unpleasant. The diet recommended for people
with type 2 diabetes is the same diet just about everyone should follow. It
boils down to a few key actions:

Eat meals and snacks on schedule.

Choose a variety of foods that are high
in nutrition and low in empty calories.

Be careful not to overeat.

Read food labels closely.

Foods to choose

Healthy carbohydrates can provide you
with fiber. The options include:

vegetables

fruits

legumes, such as beans

whole grains

Foods with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty
acids include:

tuna

sardines

salmon

mackerel

halibut

cod

You can get healthy monounsaturated and
polyunsaturated fats from a number of foods, including:

olive oil

canola oil

peanut oil

almonds

pecans

walnuts

avocados

Although these options for fat are good
for you, they’re high in calories. Moderation is key. When choosing dairy
products, choose low-fat options.

Foods to avoid

There are certain foods that you should
limit or avoid entirely. These include:

foods heavy in saturated fats

foods heavy in trans fats

beef

processed meats

shellfish

organ meats, such as beef or liver

stick margarine

shortening

baked goods

processed snacks

sugary drinks

high-fat dairy products

salty foods

fried foods

Talk to your doctor about your personal
nutrition and calorie goals. Together, you can come up with a diet plan that
tastes great and suits your lifestyle needs.

Control your weight and keep your heart healthy.
That means keeping refined carbohydrates, sweets, and animal fats to a minimum.

Get about half an hour of aerobic activity daily
to help keep your heart healthy. Exercise helps to control blood glucose, too.

Your doctor will explain how to recognize the early symptoms
of blood sugar that’s too high or too low and what to do in each situation. Your
doctor will also help you learn which foods are healthy and which foods aren’t.

Not everyone with type 2 diabetes needs to use insulin. If
you do, it’s because your pancreas isn’t making enough insulin on its own. It’s
crucial that you take insulin as directed. There are other prescription
medications that may help as well.

Causes
of type 2 diabetes

Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone. Your pancreas
produces it and releases it when you eat. Insulin helps transport sugar from
your bloodstream to cells throughout your body, where it’s used for energy.

If you have type 2 diabetes, your body becomes resistant to
insulin. Your body is no longer using the hormone efficiently. This forces your
pancreas to work harder to make more insulin. Over time, this can damage cells
in your pancreas. Eventually, your pancreas may not be able to produce any
insulin.

If you don’t produce enough insulin or if your body doesn’t
use it efficiently, glucose builds up in your bloodstream. This leaves your
body’s cells starved for energy.

Doctors don’t know exactly what triggers this series of
events.

It may have to do with cell dysfunction in the pancreas or
with cell signaling and regulation. In some people, the liver produces too much
glucose. There may be a genetic predisposition to developing type 2 diabetes.

There’s also a genetic predisposition to obesity, which
increases the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes. There could also be an
environmental trigger.

Most likely, it’s a combination of factors that increases
the risk of type 2 diabetes. Research into the causes of type 2 diabetes is
ongoing.

See your child’s doctor immediately if
your child has symptoms of diabetes. Untreated diabetes can lead to serious and
even life-threatening complications.

A random blood sugar test may reveal
high blood sugar levels. A hemoglobin
A1C test can provide more information about
average blood sugar levels over a few months. Your child may also need a fasting
blood sugar test.

If your child’s doctor diagnoses them
with diabetes, your doctor will need to determine if it’s type 1 or type 2
before suggesting a specific treatment.

You can help lower your child’s risk by
encouraging them to eat well and to be physically active every day.

Tips for how to prevent type 2 diabetes

You can’t always prevent type 2
diabetes. There’s nothing you can do about your genetics, ethnicity, or age.

If you have prediabetes or other diabetes
risk factors and even if you don’t, a few lifestyle tweaks can help delay or
even prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. These changes in diet, exercise, and
weight management work together to help keep your blood sugar levels within the
ideal range all day long:

Diet

Your diet should be high in
nutrient-rich carbohydrates and fiber. You also need heart-healthy omega-3
fatty acids from certain kinds of fish and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated
fats. Dairy products should be low in fat. It’s not only what you eat, but also
how much you eat that matters. You should be careful about portion sizes and
try to eat meals at about the same time every day.

Exercise

Type 2 diabetes is associated with inactivity.
Getting 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day can improve your overall
health. Try to add in extra movement throughout the day, too.

Weight management

You’re more likely to develop type 2
diabetes if you’re overweight. Eating a healthy, balanced diet and getting daily
exercise should help you keep your weight under control. If those changes
aren’t working, your doctor can make some recommendations for losing weight
safely.

Receiving a type 2 diabetes diagnosis

Whether or not you have prediabetes, you should see your
doctor right away if you have the symptoms of diabetes. Your doctor can get a
lot of information from blood work. Diagnostic testing may include the
following:

A hemoglobin A1C
test is also called a glycosylated
hemoglobin test. It measures average blood glucose levels for the
previous two or three months. You don’t need to fast for this test, and your
doctor can diagnose you based on the results.

You need to fast for eight hours before
having a fasting plasma glucose test. This test measures how much glucose is in
your plasma.

During an oral glucose tolerance test, your blood
is drawn before and two hours after you drink a dose of glucose. The test results
show how well your body deals with glucose before and after the drink.

If you have
diabetes, your doctor will provide you with information about how to manage the
disease, including:

how to monitor blood glucose levels on your
own

dietary recommendations

physical activity recommendations

information about any medications that you
need

You may need to see an
endocrinologist who specializes in the treatment of diabetes. You’ll probably
need to visit your doctor more often at first to make sure your treatment plan
is working.

Complications associated with type 2 diabetes

For many people, type 2 diabetes can be effectively managed.
It can affect virtually all your organs and lead to serious complications,
including:

skin problems, such as bacterial or fungal
infections

nerve damage, or neuropathy, which can cause a
loss of sensation or numbness and tingling in your extremities as well as
digestive issues, such as vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation

poor circulation to the feet, which makes it
hard for your feet to heal when you have a cut or an infection and can also
lead to gangrene and loss of the foot or leg

hearing impairment

retinal damage, or retinopathy, and eye damage, which
can cause deteriorating vision, glaucoma, and cataracts

cardiovascular diseases such as high blood
pressure, narrowing of the arteries, angina, heart attack, and stroke

kidney damage and kidney failure

Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia can occur when your blood sugar is low. The symptoms
can include shakiness, dizziness, and difficulty speaking. You can usually
remedy this by having a “quick-fix” food or drink, such as fruit juice, a soft
drink, or a hard candy.

Managing type 2 diabetes

Managing type 2 diabetes requires teamwork. You’ll need to
work closely with your doctor, but a lot of the results depend on your actions.

Your doctor may want to perform periodic blood tests to
determine your blood sugar levels. This will help determine how well you’re
managing the disease. If you take medication, these tests will help gauge how
well it’s working.

Because diabetes increases your risk of cardiovascular
disease, your doctor will also monitor your blood pressure and blood
cholesterol levels. If you have symptoms of heart disease, you may need
additional tests. These tests may include an electrocardiogram or a heart
stress test.

Follow these tips to help manage your diabetes:

Maintain a diet high in nutrient-rich carbohydrates
and fiber but low in unhealthy fats and simple carbohydrates.

Exercise daily.

Take all your medication as recommended.

Use a home monitoring system to test your own
blood sugar levels between visits to your doctor. Your doctor will tell you how
often you should do that and what your target range should be.

It may also be helpful to bring your family into the loop.
Educate them about the warning signs of blood sugar levels that are too high or
too low so that they can help in an emergency. If everyone in your home follows
a healthy diet and participates in physical activity, you’ll all benefit.